2 killed after bus slams into elevated road pillar in Shanghai

Two people were killed and 20 more injured after a public transport bus yesterday slammed into an elevated road pillar in downtown Shanghai.The Route No. 44 bus was travelling on Yan’an West Road when it crashed at a zebra crossing near Dingxi Road in the afternoon, according to Shanghai Daily.Firefighters and medical staff rushed to the scene after police received a call at 11:40 a.m.The driver was stuck in his seat and had to be pulled out by firefighters. He sustained serious injuries to his chest and brain, and had fractures in his arms and legs. He is currently being treated at the intensive care unit in Huashan Hospital.Among the severely injured was a two-year-old girl, who had a deep wound in her lung and a portion of her scalp ripped off. She was rushed to Shanghai’s Children Hospital.One woman died on the way to Huashan Hospital, while a 44-year-old woman was pronounced dead at Huadong Hospital after undergoing surgery.Nine other injured passengers, who were mostly in their 40s and 50s, suffered fractures. Among them six remain in the intensive care unit at Huadong and Huashan hospitals.The cause of the accident is not yet known. Although some speculated that the bus may have tried to avoid jaywalkers when it veered into the pillar, police said there was no evidence to support the claims.The driver, surnamed Shen, had over 20 years of driving experience.“I was sitting in the second last row and putting the transportation card into the bag,” said a passenger who’d just gotten on to the bus about a minute before the hit. “When I looked up, the bus was grazing past the barriers on the road. I temporarily lost consciousness for a few seconds after the crash.”[Images via China News]By Joyce Ng